Holocene Saharan dust deposition on the Cape Verde Islands: sedimentological and Nd-Sr isotopic evidence |
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| Authors: | P ROGNON G COUDÉ-GAUSSEN† M REVEL‡ F E GROUSSET‡ P PEDEMAY‡ |
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| Institution: | Département de Géodynamique des Milieux Continentaux. Case 114, UniversitéP. &M. Curie, 75252 Paris Cedex 5, France;UFR des Sciences de la Terre et de l'Aménagement Régional, Universitéde Caen, 14032, Caen Cedex, France;Département de Géologie et Océanographie, URA CNRS 197, UniversitéBordeaux I, Avenue des Facultés, 33405 Talence Cedex, France |
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| Abstract: | Holocene aeolian silts deposited on the Cape Verde Islands provide information about the origin of African palaeodusts that have fallen on the north-eastern Atlantic ocean over the last 10 000 years. Sedimentological composition indicates that most of these aeolian silts are unquestionably of continental origin. Their Sr and Nd isotopic composition identifies a Saharan origin-suggesting transport by Harmattan winds. We estimate that Saharan dust comprises 75–95% of material in these Holocene silts, the rest coming from the weathering of local basaltic bedrock. |
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